• Cables from the US ambassador in Kenya sent in 2008 show that the Bush administration was consulted regularly over Nairobi’s arming of the Sudanese guerillas, the SPLA. The Kenyan programme came to light after Somali pirates struck lucky, capturing a cargo ship packed with Russian T-72 tanks bound for Kenya.

• Senior Spanish government officials and other high-profile public figures used very undiplomatic language to describe various Latin American leaders: President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela was called a clown, not stupid but a rude man with no manners. Venezuela was “a disaster of a country” according to Prime Minister Zapatero.
President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua was “crazy”. The current foreign secretary, Trinidad Jiménez, described him as “the worst possible leader she had to work with”.